Posted
by
timothy
on Wednesday January 28, 2004 @08:36AM
from the know-duhh dept.

peebeejay writes "People say that as long as they're understood, spelling is unimportant. These people are unwittingly making others a lot of money online, according to this article in the NY Times (DNA sample and clean boxers required). So, aside from clarity and respect for your reader, there's another good reason to either spell correctly or use a spellchecker: get bidders to find your eBay items and give you their money! Or you can go ahead and see how many people bid on your 'labtop computers,' 'camras,' and 'earings.'"

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

You too, can find great deals on Sorny, Magnetbox, JCV, Keenwood. All because the manufacturer didn't spell the name right. (read "knock-offs")
But seriously, now are we going to have people naming their auctions:
Brand New Laptop Labtop Latpod Palpot PC!
?

I used to be a good speller, but I use Google A LOT. And it is so forgiving that my skills have declined. I expect all programs to know what I mean when I type "Jva prgfamminh boolks". I just kinda hit the keys that basically represent the words I want.

Homer: "Look at these low, low prices on famous brand name electronics!"
Bart: "Don't be a sap, Dad. These are just crappy knock-offs."
Homer: "I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see it. And look, there's Magnetbox, and Sorny!"

LOL! Priceless - look at the description for http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =3456315281&category=177

Choice quotes

"I am not lying when I say that this labtop is hands down one of the fastest computers I have ever seen in my entire life. On the other hand, I am also completely clueless when it comes to computers so please bare with me."

Oo-er - are we getting our clothes off together? (It's "BEAR with me")

"keyboard has more buttons than I know what to do with"

"a floppy drive, a CD rom drive, and another drive that I have no clue what to do with"

"And...a rechargable battery"

"some disk that I suppose you'll probably need"

and to top it off "Chances are that you'll probably want to run this computer by a shop and get it cleaned out"

Then he says "if you have any questions email me." Yeah, like he's really going to have a clue amout MHz, GB, serial ports etc. I wouldn't recommend asking anything more difficult than: "What colour is it?"

He also can't spell "I nicked it" - he says "this is not my computer (I'm selling it for a friend)"

Whoever "explained" that to you was obviously a beardy loon, and either:

1. one of those people who want to declare Essex an Aryan enclave.
2. a schitzophrenic who thought he was King Arthur.
3. Trolling.

Point two reminds me of a time about a year ago when this black guy got on the bus dressed in a blanket and announced to everybody that he was Braveheart, and was engaged in a centuries-long struggle against the English, which none of us would understand, because we were too young.

The registration is free and you don't even need a valid e-mail address. What's with the complaints? The 20 seconds you have to spend *once* to input bogus information is certainly a fair price for the online content of the NYT.

Obviously adding in your parenthetical expression (which is what the text inside these rounded things is called -- are they referred to as bracket expressions elsewhere? (and they can even be nested for no apparent reason (by the way, that question wasn't rhetorical, I really want to know)) solved the problem of smart-ass replies;)

To be perfectly serious, there is a language called American English. Thank Daniel Webster for pushing for a distinct variant in spellings (Two countries separated by a common language and all that). And since this is slashdot, it is very American leaning (see here [slashdot.org] for the editorial opinion). Thus, your pre-emptive strike regarding which came first is really a moot point. You write for your audience. Do you use polysyllabic words when addressing toddlers?

While correct, the word spelt just comes across as pretentious. It isn't wrong, but it sounds funny to the ear and is distracting in conversation. Of course, that's just Dennis Miller's opinion, he could be wrong.

That was one thing I learned while traveling through Europe. We would inevitable end up meeting/talking with British folks (mainly because they spoke the language) and they would always refer to the French or Dutch as "the Europeans"

Like, "The Europeans have this odd tasting candy" or "The Europeans have some odd TV shows".

At first it threw me for a loop.. I didn't know what they were talking about. I mean.. the British are Europeans with funny tasting candy and silly TV shows too. I didn't know they could detect abnormality among their own kind!